Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,206
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,924
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,008
Missouri costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Missouri — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$37,130
Kept after tax
$31,206
Worth in national money
$34,008
State rank
30
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays this job around $37,130 at the midpoint, 30 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, this job lands at 426. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,130 you keep $31,206, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,008 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For switchboard operators, including answering service the Missouri median is $37,130, ranking 30 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 426 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for switchboard operators, including answering service on $37,130 is $31,206. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,008 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $37,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,570 |
| This salary | $37,130 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Missouri | $31,206 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,014 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,063 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $36,125 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,286 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of switchboard operators, including answering service in Missouri earn under $37,130 and half over. The published range runs $32,380 at the tenth percentile to $45,570 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $31,206, from $37,130, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 426 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,008, the adjusted value of that $37,130 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 426 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for switchboard operators, including answering service in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,380 to $45,570; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,206 from $37,130. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 426 of 488 locally.
- This $34,008 adjusted figure, worked from $37,130, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 426 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 426 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,380 at the bottom tenth to $45,570 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,008 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,206 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,380 to $45,570) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Missouri rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Missouri's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $34,008 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $31,206 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Missouri income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.